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Diana Hasegan ’10 (Tirgu Mures, Romania) was a member of the first place team in the Early Leaders Case Competition held at the Simon Graduate School of Business at University of Rochester. The team received a $7,000 prize.The competition brought together undergraduate students from 19 colleges and universities from across the country to compete in a business case competition designed to simulate decisions faced by global business leaders. The Simon School is among the top 20 graduate business schools in the nation.
Upon arrival, students were divided into teams of five and had 24 hours to develop a proposal that identified areas of strategic expansion or innovation for Zipcar, the world’s largest car sharing and car club service.
“Although Zipcar has large revenues and was able to expand into many places around U.S. and even internationally, after eight years, it has not been able to turn a profit,” says Hasegan, who is pursuing a B.S. in civil engineering and an A.B. with a major in economics and business. “After a long evening and night of intense research on the company and the market, we arrived at a solution: gradually phasing out the gasoline powered fleet and replacing it with electric cars.”
Other members of the first-place team included students from Allegheny College, Barnard College, College of Wooster, and University of Rochester.
“The best part about the competition was working under a strict deadline with a team of people who I didn’t know before the competition. Through the real world case study, I also learned a lot about analyzing a business using the theoretical knowledge I gained while at Lafayette. Both my engineering and economics preparation helped me to contribute to my team’s solution.”
After graduation, Hasegan plans to work for a nonprofit public interest advocacy group, and then pursue a graduate degree in public policy and business administration.